Before your app will run on a real device, you must set up your iPad as a development device. This is where provisioning comes in, and that’s exactly what you will do in this chapter: provision your iPad for development purposes.

This chapter is from the book

Before you ship the next killer app, you must test it on an iPad. Using the iPad Simulator to test and debug your application will only get you so far. That’s why it’s important to always test your app on the real thing. But before your app will run on a real device, you must set up your iPad as a development device. This is where provisioning comes in, and that’s exactly what you will do in this chapter: provision your iPad for development purposes.

The steps involved are tedious. Fortunately you do not have to repeat them often, only a few times a year. And Apple is continuously improving the provisioning process. Provisioning a device today using Xcode is easy-peasy compared to what one had to do back in the day ... the dark days of 2008.

About the iOS Provisioning Portal

The iOS Provisioning Portal is the Web site, shown in Figure 6.1, used to request and download certificates, register device IDs, create App IDs, and create and download provisioning profiles. The Web site and all of its features are not available to everyone. You have access to the portal if you are one of the following:

An individual registered as a paid member of the iOS Developer Program. You can be registered as an individual or a company.

An individual registered as a team member for a company that is a paid member of the iOS Developer Program. Depending on your team member role, your access to the Provisioning Portal may be limited. There is no cost to the individual team member, and team members have access to all of the same developer resources that a paid member has, courtesy of the paid company membership.

If you are not a paid member or a team member of a company, you will not have access to the iOS Provisioning Portal. Without access, you will not be able to provision your device.

Note

You can read more about joining the iOS Developer Program in Appendix A, Installing the Developer Tools.

iOS Developer Program Team Roles

When you join the iOS Developer Program as a paid member, you have the option to join as an individual or a company. The main difference between the two is that a company can include team members and an individual cannot. As a company, you can invite other developers to join your team and assign roles to them. The roles are as follows:

Team Agent: A Team Agent is the individual who originally enrolled in the iOS Developer Program. A Team Agent has full access to the iOS Provisioning Portal, privileges not available to others. A Team Agent can invite others to be Team Admins or Team Members. A Team Agent can also approve certificate requests, register devices, create App IDs, create Push Notification Service SSL certificates, enable In App Purchase, retrieve the distribution certificate, and create development and distribution provisioning profiles.

Team Admin: A Team Admin can invite new Team Admins and Team Members to joint the team. The Team Admin can also approve certificate requests, register devices, and create development provisioning profiles.

Team Member: A Team Member can request and download a development certificate and download development provisioning profiles.

No Access: No Access is a role given to developers to prevent them from accessing the iOS Provisioning Portal. This role is used when the company is enrolled in multiple Apple developer programs, that is, the iOS Developer Program and Mac Developer Program.